Friday, March 24

פרשת ויקהל - פקודי - Moshe's Presence

In the beginning of parshas Vayakheil Moshe begins to instruct the nation on how they are to proceed with the building of the Mishkan. At the conclusion of Moshe's assembly, the pasuk (ל"ה:כ) recounts וַיֵּצְאוּ כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, מִלִּפְנֵי משֶׁה ת that the congregation of B'nei Yisroel exited from the presence of Moshe Rabbeinu. R' Lopian, in לב אליהו, comments that it would have been sufficient for the pasuk to say that בני ישראל exited. We knew where they were. Why is it necessary for the pasuk to say that they exited from Moshe's presence?

Imagine a street in a city that contained both a bar and a library. If you were to see a man walking crooked down the street, barely able to stand on his own two feet, explains R' Lopian, you need only take one look at him and you know exactly from which of the two he has just emerged. Likewise, the pasuk here is telling us that when בני ישראל left Moshe's presence, they were fundamentally changed people. They were not simply בני ישראל. They were a nation who had just left the presence of their great leader, Moshe Rabbeinu. Merely being in his midst left its mark on them.